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finally got past I was down on the leaders and that was it. It's a track that you're braking hard a lot of the time so I was doing what I could, but Troy Corser put a few nifty moves on me he usually does that! It's kind of hard to celebrate for me with the championship being over and with all what's happened in the U.S. My feelings are with people who've been touched by what happened in New York." Corser was looking forward to his second race, after coming through from nowhere in race one. "I was hoping to get a good start from pole, but that just didn't happen," he said. "I tried to get it off the grid quickly, but the bike just bogged on the line. From then, I just tried to push hard and catch and then pass people when and where I could. The bike was pretty well perfect, the rear tire was spinning a little, but the thing was still driving forwards. It's difficult to pass people in some places so I just tried to brake a bit later than everybody! I love riding here - it's a real technical track with a bit of everything in it. "I really feel for Regis. I saw him up the front and just wanted him to win it as I didn't have the chance. As I came past after the crash, I saw that it was an Aprilia and knew it was him, I just hope he and Troy Bayliss are okay." Lady luck was to change her allegiance in race two and Corser and Bayliss were to have their own misfortunes during that 21-lapper, when Corser's crashing machine took Edwards off the track just before middistance, forcing the American rider to retire. Edwards saw the crashing machine and, more importantly, the tumbling figure of Corser about to cross his bows and he took avoiding action - straight across the gravel for about half a mile. He had to retire shortly thereafter. A two-man fight for much of the second race became a three-man battle at the end, as Tadayuki Okada rode well in the last quarter to sit on the Troy Baylln (21) lead. teammate Ben Bos1rom(155) In the first race • a1lmola. coat tails of Xaus and Laconi, the latter miraculously not just riding, but riding to win after his big scare in the opener. Laconi was to take the win, scoring not only his first-ever World Superbike win, but his first World Superbike podium. Xaus was a close second, with Okada earning his third podium finish of his rookie World Superbike season. Laconi was transported to a place of sheer j'Oy after the win many thought would never come. "I am so happy and emotional for Aprilia to win here in Italy," the Frenchman said. "Half of me is happy and passionate for me to win for France and the other half for this Italian home win. It has been a hard year for me, coming from the 500s where I won and then having to learn really how to ride the Aprilia and not crash too much. "We have made a good job with this podium today. Look at the results for me this year and it's just like today. I crash in race one and then do so well in race two, I've just not been lucky all the time. We will have to see about next year, I have now made a good job of this year so hopefully I can keep going with Aprilia and get better again. Who knows, maybe there is a new contract waiting for me in the pit garage now?" facturers, apparently, is complete MSMA participation (Ducati, Aprilia, and the Big Four) in the new 2004 ·production" championship. It will be a long wait for all of them to return, however, and for those who fear that the 'old-style' World Superbike Championship is about to become the Ducati International Trophy - it could be a long wait until 2004. Dig in, it could be one stop forward, two years back for the whole World Superbike Championship in general. This late flowering of the factory rookies only formed a small part of the unfathomable equation of why the racing was so competitive on such a day, when the championship was not at stake. Other notable rides came from Steve Martin, running out sixth and fifth overall, and showing himself to be yet another Aussie who should never be discounted from things. On Pirellis, Martin was a revelation of a small kind, on a day when revelations became commonplace. Gregorio Lavilla, almost certain to be out of the Eckl team, had to struggle on alone after Akira Yanagawa ruled himself out of what will be his last - stillborn - full-time World Superbike race, with a head injury taken in practice. Pier-Francesco Chili, another World Superbike long-timer, was a subdued ninth in race two and a retirement in race one, allowing Xaus to steal his sixth-place championship finish with his burst of sheer Latin bravado. Neil Hodgson was nobody's star at Imola either, 10th and seventh, exasperated by the lack of pace his machine has against the best of the rest. "Today I was racing down with the guys I really should be racing against," Hodgson said. "My bike is not the fastest one out there. When Xaus goes past me he peels the stickers off the bike. I have to ride so hard just to stay with the leaders all the time, and when I can't do it every lap this is where I end up. I can't wait to get a faster bike next year." The day belonged to Laconi and Xaus, but the future could be anybody's. It will be an interesting couple of years in Superbike, with Suzuki out next year (unofficially as yet) and with Kawasaki maybe out the year after. What is promised by the manu- RACE ONE Newly crowned champ Bayliss got off the line into the fast sweeping left before Tamburello, closely followed by his teammates Bostrom and Xaus. Only one of the two Aprilias got a good start off the two first places on the grid - Laconi. The Frenchman was in fourth as the pack .streamed toward Rivazza while team-leader Corser was way back in 10th, three places behind Aprilia test rider Alessandro Antonello. Xaus had a moment at Variante Alta when he left his braking so late he had to use a little bit of the grasscrete on the exit from the chicane. At the end of la pone, the order was: Bayliss, Bostrom, Laconi, Neil Hodgson, Xaus, Edwards, Antonello, Stephane Chambon, Corser, Okada, Chili and James Toseland. On the second lap, Xaus got his factory Ducati past Hodgson, just before the British rider lost it by competey missing his braking marker for the final chicane and having to take to the pit lane at speed. He had to wait for the pack to go through before rejoining in last place. At the end of lap two, Bayliss still led Bostrom and Laconi, but Xaus had caught up a little, setting the best lap of the race at 1:49.9. Edwards also began to move up, getting past Antonello's Aprilia and cutting two tenths off Xaus' best lap time. After three laps, the order was: Bayliss, Bostrom, Laconi, Xaus, Edwards, Antonello, Corser, Okada, Chili, Chambon, Toseland and Martin Laconl (1l5) and )(au. (111 battled for the lead throughout race two, with Laconl getting not only his flrst-ever World Superblke win, but his first podium as well. cue I • n • _ s • OcTOBER 10, 2001 23